Saturday, January 2, 2016

5 Things I Loved About Star Wars: The Force Awakens

12/20/15

The new Star Wars movie was dazzling—there was a lot to love
about it. So, I thought I'd share five of the things that really stood out to
me as I left the theater last night. And if you've got any favorite
scenes/lines/images you'd like to share, I'd love to hear about them J

**Warning! I've tried to stay away from major spoilers, but
this post may contain minor ones. So proceed with caution if you haven't seen
the movie yet.**

5 Things I Loved About
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

(all images copyright
Walt Disney Studios)

1. The acting is marvelous. Daisy Ridley as Rey and John Boyega
as Finn really shine. Both actors bring real power and emotion to their
dramatic moments and to the more action-oriented scenes. And, of course,
Harrison Ford and Peter Mayhew slip comfortably back into their roles as Han
Solo and Chewbacca, respectively. The rest of the cast was uniformly excellent,
and I particularly enjoyed Gwendoline Christie as Captain Phasma.

2. It's full of surprises. I promised I wouldn't include any
major spoilers, so I'll just list one minor one here—this surprise was one of
my favorites: We see Rey sitting outside her home on Jakku, and as the camera
pulls back, we see she's actually been living in the wreckage of an AT-AT.

3. It's got a sense of humor. Again, trying not to be
spoiler-y, so I'll list some of my favorite lines without the context.

4. The air/space battles are spectacular. Director J.J. Abrams
brings a giddy, visceral feel to all of the chases and fight scenes that occur
in the air (or the vacuum of space). When Finn and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac)
"appropriate" a TIE fighter and zoom off, I felt like I was on board
the TIE fighter myself. I swear I could even feel the floor of the ship
rumbling beneath my feet.

5. It has some very cool mystical moments. That
vision/dream/nightmare Rey has at Maz Kanata's (Lupita Nyong'o) castle when she
is drawn to that—ahem—object that is locked in a chest was genuinely surreal
and chill-inducing. Scenes like that reminded me of mystical feel that The Empire Strikes Back had at times.

So, those were five things I loved about Star Wars: The Force
Awakens. What were some of your favorite things?

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